Car-door-operating device.



W. A. & R. G. BOCK.

CAR DOOR OPERATING DEVICE.'

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25. 1918.

1,299,420. Patented Apr. 8,1919. F 2' A Hg 2 1 tioned have been encountered has been to unnecessary expenditure of time and labor.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. .1

WILLIAM A. .BOCK AND RICHARD c. BOOK, or CHICAGO, rumors.

CAR-DOOR-OPERATING DEVICE.

To'aZZ whom it may concern;

closing of the side doors of railway freight cars which results from the sagging ofthe drawings, forming a part of this spe'cifi-' cation. a

This invention relates vto improvements in car door operating devices.

' As is well known, great difficulty has here tofore been encountered in the opening and 'cars themselves; sagging of the doors; injury to the door supporting tracks and brackets; and oftentimes due to the fact that some of theload of the car has shifted against the doors while the cars are in transit. Here'- tofore, so. far as we are aware, the only method of forcing the doors'open or of closing them when the difiiculties above men- 'employ some improvised means, generally a crow-bar or piece of joist, to pry the doors,

and thereby causing serious damageto the cars and doors, and 1n add1t1on,requ1r1ng an I One object of our invention is toprovide a simple and efiicient device which may be readily applied to a freight car and em,-

ployed to force the door either open or closed and without danger of injuring the car or door.

Another object of our invention is to provide a device of the character above indicated which may be detachably applied to any portion of any of the usual types of door hanger tracks now used so that the d'evice'may be employed to move the door regardless of the position of the latter.

Another and more specific object of our invention is to provide a door operating device of the character above indicated which may be employed without modification for forcing the doors either open or closed, that is, a device so arranged that it can be operated. either right orv left.

' In the drawing forming a part'of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevational View of a portion of a box freight car showing the side door. opening thereof and a section 'of' the side door in partly opened Specification of Letters Patent. 7

Patented Apr. 8,1919.

Application med March 25, i91 Serial No. 224,552.

position, our improved operatingdevice be- 7 ing shown in position to force the door still farther open. 1 Fig.2 is av'ertical, transverse, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 22 of Fig. 1. AndFig; 3' is an elevational view showing themanner of attaching our device to ay-difi'erent form of door hanger track from'that shown Figs.

land 2. I

-bar door hangertrack 11 of well known portion of the car side wall in the usual In said drawing, 10 denotes a freight car of the box type having the usual side door o ening above which extends horizontally a manner. The side door of the caris desig- 'nated at 12, the same beingsupported from the track 11 by any suitable means, such as the roller hangerbrackets 13.

To open and lose the door when'unusual force is required,. we employ the device des'ignated generally by the reference Said device, as shown, includes threeelements 14, 15 and 116. The member 15 maybe called the supporting member and is formed atv itsupper end with ahorizontally extending flange or lip 16 adapted to rest on the horizontal web. of the track 11. Below thehorizontal flange 16, the member 15 isextended downwardly for a relatively short distance'and is then carried outwardly, as indicated] at 17 to thereby form an offset 18 for the purpose hereinafter described. At'its lower end, the member 15 has pivoted thereto the operating lever or member 14, the pivot being preferv ably in the form of a rivet 19. The lever 14 at its upper end is forked,as indicated M120, and between theforks is mountedaloosely rotatable anti-friction roller 21 having its periphery preferablyconcaved, as indicated I at 22,and adapted to engage the edgeof the car door. Below the pivot 19, the lever 14 is preferably ofi'set, as indicated at 23, so as to provide greater clearance when thesame is being operated.

In order to clamp the device'infixecl p'osition on the door hanger track we employ the gravity actuated cam lock 116 whichis pivotally attached to the supporting member 15 asby the rivet 2 4, Said member '1161at its upper end is provided. with a curved "ca'm surface, as indicated'at 25,so spaced with relation to the flange 16 that the. rail track, when the latter has a horizontal section, as

indicated in Fig. 2, will be. securely gripped therebetween. Atits lower end, the memher 116 is enlarged, as indicated at 26, so that it is weighted in such a manner as to tend to throw the member 116 to a vertical position and parallel with the supporting member 15. 1

When the device is employed on a car having a so-called plate or bar hanger track, as indicated at 27 in Fig. 3, it is necessary to employ a different gripping arrangement and for this purpose the member 116 is provided with another cam surface 2 S0 spaced with relation to the horizontal flange 16 that the mil 01, track 27 will be gripped therebetween. It will be noted that the member 116 has the upper portion thereof which carries'thefcam surface 25, relatively narrow and spaced from the member 15 sufficiently to admit the depending flange of a Z -bar track therebetween and to form suflieient clearance for a track of the type shown inF gv 3. v

In attaching the device to a door track, it is desirable to prevent the members 15 and 116 from swinging relatively to the operating lever 14, the latter being, of course used by the op a or when the device is eing lifted into position. To accomplish this result, the lever 14- is provided with an el ngat d slo 2 here h pivot .19 i eom h de d so that he ever 11 d pp rti g member 1 ar hift ble rel i e y l ngitu ina ly. In. th ofi' et o themember15 ,we vprovide a small lug 30 which is adapted to be seated in a corresponding n t h 1 formed. in the upp r en of h adjaeen ork 20 of the le er By ferring to Fig. 3, itwill be seen that when 1 the. lever 11 is. shifted upwardly relatively to them mh r 1. he. n ch n lug 0 ill be ngaged h ch ll therefor pre nt h Inemher'l from winging While it is be ng applied. When the lever is being actuated toopen the door, however, it is obvious that itwill be drawn down so; as to be disengaged rornv he log 30.

Incase it should be found necessary to positiv ly p sition h m king m mber 116, the latter may be provided with an penin 2 to recei e the bent upp r e d of suitable rod.- or th like i h an be menipulated by the operator when standing on th gro nd a The ower end of the operating l ver 1 is preferably made wedge-shape, as indicated at 33, sothat it can be utilized in the manner a pin h. a

With the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1 and the operator swinging the lower end o th lev r 4; to h l ft, a v e ed in said igure, t i i e t tha here will e a tend ney o hi t he pi l9 t he lef and eneeqlien lythe pivot '24 in, a s milar di re t on. his will or e. he cam ki g "element .1.6. into tigh gripping eng gem nt with the track 11 and positively prevent the wise of the track, although it is evident that the device can be shifted along the track to the right, as the door is progressively forced open, without difliculty or without disengaging the device from the track.

When it is desired to use the device for forcing the door to closed position, it is merely necessary to swing cam locking memher 116 to the other side of the vertical and swing the operating lever 1 1 in the opposite manner to that shown in Fig 1.

The device can obviously be manufactured at relatively small expense, can be used with cars employing different types of door hanger tracks and will successfullyandeifh cientiy Serve the purpose intended and without danger of injury to the car or door.

We claim:

1. A door operating'device for car doors and the like including, in combinhtiQni a member adapted to be supported in'a de pending position froma door hanger track of a type having either horizontal or member in either direction depending upon the adjustment of said means; and a door engaging lever operable in either direction o o ee h door ei h r clo or open- 3. A door operating device for doors supp ted. from, a hange rack nclu ng, in ombina ion: mem er a apted t be upported in a depending position om t e hange track; a, gr i y co tro ed cam locking element cooperable with and pivotally mounted n. aid mem er adap d o automatically grip the track;- and a'second membe movably moun e v on. h firs amed member and adapted to engage the. door to hift h seme le g hwise f he rack 4:, A door operating device for slidable car doors nd the lik ine1 ding,1in oonblnation: two pivotally connected elements having cooperating means for engaging and gr pping a door ha g r rack therebetween; an a oor engag ng l v r pivotal y moun ed intennedia e its. en s n one of a d members, said lever being pivoted to swing to either side of the member to which it is pivoted to thereby id -apt, the same for forcing the do r in e t r d r tion Y 1 t Aw d or'op re ingdevice of. the charact r de c ibed ncl d ng, in c mbina ion; a supporting member having an offset. flange adapted to engage the top of a door hanger rail of either a Z-bar or plate type; a gravity controlled, pivoted cam locking element mounted on said member, said locking element having two cam faces located at different distances from said flange and cooperable with the latter to grip either of said types of hanger tracks; and a lever pivotally mounted on said member and adapted to engage one edge of a door supported from said track and force the latter lengthwise of the track.

6. In a door operating device for car doors and the like, the combination with a hanger having an inturned flange at its upper end by which said hanger is adapted to be supported from a door hanger track, of a lever pivotally attached to said hanger, said lever being adapted to swing to either side of said hanger to en age the edge of a door, of a gravity cam 100 'ng element also pivotally attached to said hanger adjacent said flange, said cam locking element having a pluralit of *ippin surfaces opposed to and coiiiberabl e with said flange to thereby clamp the mechanism to the door hanger track, said gripping surfaces be' disposed at different distances from said ange.

7 In a door operating device of the character described, the combination with a sup porting member adapted to engage with a door hanger track, of means cooperable with said member adapted to grip a track, an operating lever pivotally attached to said member, said lever being adjustable lengthwise of said member in addition to its pivotal attachment, and cooperating means on said member and lever adapted to engage when said lever is shifted with respect to said member to thereby lock said lever and member together and facilitate application of the device to a track.

In witness that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto subscribed our names.

WILLIAM A. BOOK; RICHARD G. BOOK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

